Today was some family reunion thing because my granduncle and his family had arrived from Vancouver. There were 15 people squashed at one round table for lunch. The people there consisted of the 3 dinosaurs (my grandfather, his brother who came back from Vancouver and one of his sisters. If I'm not wrong, he has 11 siblings), my grandmother and grandaunt (I won't call them dinosaurs), 4 monkeys (Jean, Jensen, Jerome and me), Emily (my granduncle's daughter), Terrence (Emily's new husband), my parents and Jensen's parents. The last time I saw my granduncle (his name is pronounced as "Carpark", please don't ask me why) and his family was around 2003/4 when my family went to Seattle for our holiday and drove up to Vancouver, Canada.

I was reading Jean's blog and took a long time to stop laughing because I was reminded of what happened today. I shall use some of what she posted for my source of inspiration.

Carpark and my grandfather are very alike. When you put them together, they look almost the same even though there's a large age gap. The only difference is that Carpark looks like he tried to dye his hair black in order to look young. Both of them have a great sense of humour, and a lot of wisdom.

Carpark was trying to scoop some noodle into his bowl, but he was having some trouble because the noodle was too long and his hands couldn't go any higher. The rest of us were busy looking at him and feeling worried. I was wondering which genius came up with long noodles that were so user-unfriendly. Then he looked up, smiled, and said, "long life!". Everyone couldn't help but laugh at his comment.

Carpark: "When in doubt.. YELL"
That's the advice he gave Jensen. Jensen was trying to pick up a piece of carrot cake from the sliding round table, but the waitress rotated the glass as she wanted to clear some plates that were clogging up the table. Jensen looked so scared and he was still half-clinging on to the carrot cake with his chopsticks. Everyone was stunned at first but didn't know how to help Jensen. Then Jensen started shouting, "Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me! MY CARROT CAKE!" I think the poor waitress got a shock.

I think there's a gangster trait in the Chan family. I mean, the 3rd generation. Jensen and Jerome suddenly started fighting at the table even though they were initially seated 1 seat apart. When their mom asked them for an explanation, the young and not-innocent Jerome said, "I stare at him (Jensen), then he stare at me, then we fight lor.." His mom didn't know what to say.

Mom was talking to Emily and asked her if she went skiing in Vancouver. Both of them happen to be anti-skiing. Mom always dedicates herself solely to the bunny hill (the easiest slope) while the rest of us go on to the higher mountain slopes. Then Emily said, "I'm not gonna plant myself on two slabs of plastic and throw myself off the mountain!" Mom immediately nodded her head in agreement. Dad was just frowning.

Ye ye (to Carpark): "I had a cataract a few years ago..."
Jerome: "Hey I want a Cadillac too!"
Ye ye was telling Carpark about how he had free medical treatment and all that because he was on government pension. Jerome, on the other hand, is crazy over cars. He's four years old, but can tell you the brand of any car that whizzes by, and I am impressed. He goes crazy whenever he sees toy cars in shopping centres. Just that today, he happened to listen to the wrong conversation.

Most of the rest of my day was spent walking around shopping with my parents. Everyone needs a good break after going on holiday. I felt so tired today I was sleeping most of the morning and in the car. I have 2 Tamiya models on my waiting list. I want to start on them but I don't think I should until O levels are over. Another thing I want to do (I've been wanting to do since a few years ago) is writing a biography of my grandparents. Ye ye keeps telling me not to but I want to because their lives are interesting and I'd regret it if I don't record the stories they tell me. Enough ranting.